1) Earthbound - Always tops my list. I guess I'm one of those gigantic homosexuals whose life was profoundly impacted by this game about a slightly chunky kid with psychic powers who hits shit with a bat. It's basically my life.
2) Valkyrie Profile - One of the most well-constructed, well-balanced, challenging games I've played with a genuinely good story. I recently beat it again on hard mode.
3) Deadly Premonition - Rated the most accurate Twin Peaks simulator of 2010.
4) Super Fantasy Zone - It's basically Defender on LSD. That makes it awesome. Beat this one on Hard mode too. I loved it enough to import a complete copy from Europe because it didn't come out here. :l
5) Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne - A balls-to-the-wall crushingly difficult RPG about punching Lucifer in the nuts.
6) Ys: The Oath in Felghana - One of the best action games ever in one of the best action game series ever. A remake of the mediocre Ys 3 turned it into one of the best games ever.
7) Tengen Tetris - A much superior release and the only version of Tetris I know of that has co-op play.
8) NiER - Somehow, through some sort of devil magic, the joke ending of a shitty game gave rise to one of the best releases of last year and one of the best games I've ever played. Absolutely play this game.
2) Valkyrie Profile - One of the most well-constructed, well-balanced, challenging games I've played with a genuinely good story. I recently beat it again on hard mode.
First off, the only way anyone should play Valkyrie Profile is in hard, everything else is a waste of time. Second off, I LOVE your 1 and 2 spots on that list, and the rest of your list is pretty good too.
O
Hybrid Mode
